Bistrot du Sud-Ouest seems too inexpensive to be of any decent quality. The 36E formula includes a 3 course menu with many choices (including foie gras and bresse chicken?!) plus a cocktail, plus a bottle of wine, plus coffee? Is it really to be considered "pleasant and reliable?" If so I'd think folks would be lining up! Please tell us more Souphie.

And you know what? Even the wine list is interesting and nicely priced. Their foie gras is pretty good, so is their duck. Plus, there's lots of room and wide tables. It was a great deal when I was a student and still is. All I can say is, it may not be a place I would fly to Paris for, but I've been going for over twenty years and always have a very pleasant, and affordable, time.

But I don't think their chicken can really be Bresse. Good maybe (though I only ever had duck there and would not consider getting chicken in an inexpensive place) but Bresse at that price seems very unlikely.

I second le Bistrot du Dôme which, BTW, is open on Sundays as well.Also, highly recommend La Cerisaie for which you'll need a reservation since it's real small.

Other than that, you'll find some nice cafés perfect for people watching on Place Edgar Quinet like (Café de la Place). They also serve breakfasts, plats du jour, composed salads and other snacks all day long.

On Rue Odessa, off Place Edgar Quinet, you'll find a nice boulangerie artisanale at number 19. They have pretty decent pastries and sandwiches to take out.

It's also the area where you'll find lots of creperies like Josselin, 67, Rue du Montparnasse (always packed).

There's also a small Franprix on Rue Delambre which may be convenient for purchases such as bottled water, soft drinks, wine, fruit, etc.

Just reread your post -- Southeast of Montparnasse is usually not considered Montparnasse. There's the excellent bakery/pastry shop Des Gateaux et Du Pain on bd Pasteur. Hermé has a shop on rue de Vaugirard. There's Le Bistrot d'Hubert. Thierry Burlot is good but not local and somewhat too fancy, if not very expensive.

There's also something to be said for walking uphill on Pasteur to Catalogne and walk down the rue du Chateau from there, to l'Assiette, l'Amuse-Bouche, le Sévero...

If you consider the area around Gare Montparnasse and Rue de Rennes the 'shopping area of Montparnasse', then I'd consider Rue Delambre where the hotel is located, pretty much 'south east'.

BTW and to the OP, if you should be a night owl, you'll find The Rosebud on Rue Delambre the perfect spot for a night cap. The place is sort of a Parisian or at a least a Montparnasse institution just like the other famous cafés near Vavin métro stop.

To confuse you thoroughly, I go on the record to say that rue Delambre is très Montparnasse, even though I usually agree with Soup on everything. Man Ray, André Breton, in short all the home boys of the whole Montpartnasse gang lived at one time or another on rue Delambre.

My bad. Delambre is indeed très Montparnasse. What confused me is the mention of Southeast, which I assumed to be SE of the station or of the Place du 18 juin 1940. The neighborhood SE of the station does not really have a name, though Pasteur would be the clearest indication I can think of.

You should also note that there is an enormous Monoprix on Rue du Depart on the east side of Gare Montparnasse, excellent for grabbing some bottled water, bottle of wine, bakery, fruit, cheese or simple take out for your room or a fast picnic. Not the best in town, but a wide assortment allowing one-stop shopping, just what we all decry doing in Paris.

We have on occasion found the best quality reine claude plums and moroccan clementines of our stays at a Monoprix. One never knows.